You Raise Me Up
by TDBigJ1213
Summary: After a close defeat in her latest Pokémon showcase, Serena feels a little down in the dumps, so Ash decides to cheer her up. What will he do and will it erase her doubts and lift her spirits? An Amourshipping Valentine's Day one-shot. Ash x Serena. AASL. Childhoodshipping.


**TDBigJ's message:** Hey everybody! How you doing? In case you do not know me, I am known for making the amourshipping story In or Out and the Christmas one-shot named Back for Christmas. The former is kind of popular but the latter, not so much. In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would give you a one-shot based around my favorite Pokemon couple, Ash and Serena (a.k.a Amourshipping). I like this pairing so much that I just had to make a Valentine's Day one-shot about it. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about this couple, and a million and one ideas pop into my head a lot of the time about the couple, and this story was inspired by one of them. I've been thinking about this particular idea for a couple of weeks now, and I wanted to put it into story form for you guys. The theme for this story may seem a bit cliché, but I wanted to give it a shot. I am making this story in honor of two people: My middle brother, who back at the beginning of this month, proposed to his girlfriend and she said yes, and my late grandfather, whose birthday was on this holiday. So this one is for you two. So without further ado, on with the story. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or it's characters, they belong to game freak and Nintendo, and… whoever else.**

"Dang! And I was so close!"

Serena had finished another Pokemon showcase, although, this one ended in defeat. She came close to winning it, as she only lost by a few votes. She felt a little down from it but not as much as after her first one, but still enough to feel upset. She felt that this was one of the toughest showcases she had practiced for, but not winning it felt like crap. She knew she wouldn't win every single one, but she was so dedicated to winning this one. After the performance, she just simply walked up to her friends, said she was fine, and then walked back here to the Pokemon center, without another word. Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie looked at her in confusion and worry after she walked off. They hadn't seen her like this in a while. She didn't really want to show them her disappointment.

Serena slapped her forehead a few times. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She said, further showing her frustration. She really wished she had done better. Maybe there was one or two things she could have added to her performance that could have improved it. She took out the two princess keys she already had and looked at them.

"Could have won a third. What did I do wrong?" She said to herself. She acted like this was a curse. She knew that if she won this showcase that she would have qualified for the master class tournament. But alas, that would have to happen another day.

She continued to sit there, wondering what she could have done better.

Meanwhile, the others were sitting in the Pokemon center's cafeteria. They really weren't eating anything, they just have been sitting there talking about the whole day, and more importantly, Serena.

"Did you see Serena's reaction after the showcase? She seemed okay, but I could definitely sense something was wrong with her." Clemont stated.

"Yeah. After she joined us, she said she was fine then walked off. She usually never does that." Ash said.

"I wonder if she's doing all right. I hate seeing her so depressed." Bonnie said.

"She's probably fine. Knowing her she is perhaps thinking about her performance today." Ash answered.

"I don't know why she seems upset about it. She did fine today." Clemont pointed out.

"She did. I guess a close defeat like that kind of hurts doesn't it?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, Bonnie, it kind of does." Clemont said sadly. Ash took this moment to think to himself.

"Serena did great in the showcase today. She shouldn't feel bad. I think she should have won too. She has nothing to feel bad about. She did great, amazing actually! I just wish there was something I could do to make her feel better. She's the one person I hate to see upset."

Ash really felt that bad for her. She was his best friend (besides Pikachu) after all. She really was the last person he wanted to see sad and upset. He's known her for so long that he knows how happy she is when she is in a good mood and how sad she can be when she's in a bad mood.

"Ash?" Clemont asked, snapping Ash out of his train of thought.

"Oh, uh, yeah Clemont, what is it?"

"What are you doing? You were staring out into space there for a minute."

"Oh, I was just thinking about something."

"About Serena?"

"Well, yeah."

"Don't worry, we are just as worried as you are." Clemont said. Clemont may have not known it, but that was a lie to Ash. He doubted that Clemont or Bonnie were just as worried for Serena as he was. Ash and Serena have been friends since they were little. Clemont and Bonnie have only known her for a few months. Ash knew how Serena felt in these situations better than anybody. He didn't want to say he was a better friend to her than them. Heavens no!

"Why is that Ash? Are you starting to have feelings for her?" Bonnie teased with a smile on her face. That definitely caught Ash off guard. A look of shock appeared on his face.

"Wha? No Bonnie! She's my best friend. I hate to see her like this." Ash replied. Clemont sighed.

"Bonnie, did you really need to bring that up?" Clemont asked his little sister.

"It could be true." Bonnie responded.

"That's not the point, Bonnie. You shouldn't say things like that in this kind of situation." Clemont stated.

"Sorry about that, Ash." Bonnie apologized.

"It's all right Bonnie. Don't worry about it." Ash replied.

"So what do we do?" Clemont asked. Ash was stuck on thinking on something himself. He couldn't think of anything. Maybe a walk would clear his mind. He stood up from his seat.

"I'm going for a walk. I'll meet up with you guys later." Ash said and walked away.

As soon as Ash left the Pokemon center, he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground. For some reason, he started to feel down himself. Serena feeling sad kind of made him sad as well. Since they were such close friends these kinds of feelings kind of connect in some way. Pikachu noticed his buddy looking down and waved his paw in front of Ash's face.

"Pika?"

"Oh, yeah Pikachu, what?"

"Pika Pi, pika."

"Yeah buddy, I am feeling pretty sad for Serena."

"Pika?"

"I know she put a lot of hard work and dedication into her performance, but I guess the audience just liked that one girl better. It must hurt when you lose by less than ten votes."

"Pika, Pika Pi?"

"I am feeling sad as well. Seeing my best friend so down after that kind of makes me feel upset as well. I want to do something to cheer her up, but what?"

Ash continued his thinking from a few seconds ago. He wanted to bring her spirits up, let her know she was absolutely fantastic in her performance despite her loss. But then, there was one thing he remembered. It was the thing Serena told him back in Coumarine City when they were getting gifts for their Pokemon. She told him that one thing. About what his Pokemon would get for him as a gift if he were them. That was a great idea! His thought process then became a lot simpler now.

"If I were Serena, what would I like as a gift to cheer me up?" Ash thought to himself. He looked around the area he was in for a general idea. There were a few things that caught his eye but he thought he could do better. Then one thing popped into sight.

"Yeah. That will work."

Back in her room, Serena had laid down on her side, still pondering over her showcase loss. She didn't want to feel so upset after a loss like this, but those feelings of failure overpowered her. There was so much she went over, and so many thought of what she could have done to have a much better performance. This performance loss had the same feeling of something else bad that would happen to her if it occurred. If you knew Serena pretty well, you would know what that thought would be. She had brought out all three of her Pokemon in the meantime while she was thinking it over. They all tried to comfort her, but it was no use. They appeared not to be upset at the loss at all, but they were concerned why she was feeling bad about it.

"It's not your guys' fault, it's all on me. There's just so many other things I could have done. I don't know why I didn't." Serena told her trio of Pokemon. They all laid a paw on her left arm, trying to ease up the tension that was building up inside her.

Serena kept mentally slapping herself when she got back here earlier. Why was she being hard on herself for this? She was a strong person. Even Ash said so.

But her thoughts were soon halted when she heard a knock on her door. Seeing as she was about to have company, she got up and straightened herself out. She brushed her hair down with her hands and smoothed out her clothes. When she was done she walked to the door and opened it. She saw that it was Ash, who had his right arm behind him for some reason. She put on a faint smile, just so he wouldn't know she was upset, if he didn't know already.

"Oh, hi Ash. What brings you here?" Serena asked, trying to sound as positive as possible.

"I just wanted to come by and see how you were. You walked away from us and you seemed pretty upset." Ash said.

"Oh, you noticed that, huh?" Serena asked, putting her hands behind her back and looking down.

"Yeah, I did. But I came up here and wanted to cheer you up." Ash stated. Serena eyes went back up and looked directly at him.

"Cheer me up? How?"

"I thought I would bring you something, like this." Ash said, and pulled his hidden arm forward, revealing a bouquet of roses. Serena's jaw dropped slightly when she noticed them.

"Ash, what are those for?"

Ash giggled. "They're for you, silly. For your performance today."

"But Ash, I lost."

"That doesn't really matter to me. I thought you did great today. Amazing actually." Ash responded.

"Ash, why?"

"I know you felt upset after coming so close. I hated seeing you this upset and I didn't want to see that face sad anymore. So here." Ash explained and handed her the bouquet. Serena still didn't take the roses from his hand. She was still a little surprised that he had done something for her like this.

"Ash, I-" She was then cut short as Ash put his hands on her shoulders.

"Look, I know had badly you feel. I've been through many gym battles where I lost and felt this terrible. And just because you lost doesn't mean you didn't do great. I don't care what anyone else thinks, you did a phenomenal job today, and don't let that discourage you. Clemont and Bonnie think so, and so do I." Ash said and then let go of her shoulders. Ash just explained to her his true thoughts. What he said was right. She felt like she did a pretty good job today. After all those words that Ash said to her, she put on a bigger smile and her face brightened up a bit. She then gladly took the roses from him and held them in her arms. She did admit, they were a nice bunch that he picked out. To Ash, it was a way to make her happy, but to her, it meant much more than that.

"Do you feel any better?" Ash asked. Serena looked at him straight in the eyes with that smile that then made Ash feel better as well.

"I do now. Thank you." Serena replied. She looked at the roses for another moment, and then slammed into ash giving him a huge hug. The one person who she wanted to make her happy did just that. And that was enough to remove her sad mood from her being.

"Thank you so much Ash. I feel a lot happier now." Serena said. Ash returned the hug and closed his eyes.

"I'm glad you do. You are the last person I want to see sad." Ash's eyes were closed, so he didn't see the bright red blush that was now on Serena's face. The hug lasted for another few minutes, neither wanting to break apart from it. Ash was the first to do so and then looked back at her. Luckily the blush on her face had disappeared, so he wasn't going to notice it.

"I'll be downstairs in the cafeteria with Clemont and Bonnie. You can come meet us down there if you want." Ash suggested.

"I'll come down soon. I need to be by myself for a few minutes." Serena replied.

"Okay. I'll see you in a few." Ash responded and walked away. After he was out of plain sight, Serena closed the door and laid back down on her bed. She looked at the bunch of roses he gave her. The roses meant a lot to her. Ash gave them to her to make her feel happy again. It wasn't the bouquet that made her happy, it was the person who went out of their way to lift her spirits up that made her happy. Her three Pokemon were looking at her with smug expressions. She looked at them, confused as to why they were doing so.

"What?" They continued staring at her, their looks simply trying to say "I bet he likes you a lot more now." She suddenly realized why.

"Oh." She said as she blushed a faint pink.

Ash had walked back down to the Pokemon center's cafeteria were luckily Clemont and Bonnie were still sitting in. They had gotten themselves something to eat in the meantime. Ash walked up to the table, where they noticed him approaching.

"Hey Ash. Where've you been?" Clemont asked.

"I've been doing something important." Ash replied.

"What was it?"

"Seeing as Serena was feeling upset, I thought I would do something to make her happy."

"Ooh, what did you do?" Bonnie asked, excitedly anticipating what it was.

"I brought her some roses and told her how great she did today." Ash responded. Bonnie squealed in delight.

"Seems like now you are-" Bonnie started but Clemont then gave her a stern look and put his pointer finger up to his mouth, signaling her to shush. Bonnie then stopped what she was saying and resumed eating.

"Really? You did that?" Clemont asked, surprised Ash would do something like that.

"Yeah. It seemed like the best way. And she immediately felt happy again after that." Ash stated.

"That was very thoughtful of you. I'm glad you did it." Clemont remarked, pleased with Ash's generosity.

"Me too. I'm going to get some food now. Be right back." Ash said and left the table to get some food.

Back in her room, Serena had been admiring the roses. She was shocked but also ecstatic at the same time. Ash, of all people, did this for her. She didn't want it to be anyone else. Just him. His words of encouragement were what brought joy to her mind again. Even when she failed, he knew how to make her happy, and that was one of the many things that she admired about him. But, something else came to her mind. He did such a cordial act that she felt like she wanted to do something for him in return. She needed to do something for him now. She knew exactly what to do. She grabbed her hat and put that and her boots back on and left the room, but not before grabbing something beforehand.

She went down to the cafeteria where Ash said he and the others would be at. She saw the three of them at a table, eating and conversing. She walked up to the table and patted Ash's shoulder, catching his attention.

"Oh hey, you're here. Want to join us?" Ash asked.

"Uh, actually Ash, can I see you for a moment, just you?" Serena asked.

"Oh yeah, sure." Ash got up from his seat and followed Serena to wherever she wanted to talk to him at. She got behind a wall and made sure that Clemont and Bonnie weren't able to see what she was about to do.

"So, what did you want me for?" The raven haired trainer asked.

"This!" She replied and then threw her arms around his neck and planted a deep kiss onto his lips. Ash was beyond surprised. He didn't expect this. She was his childhood friend, she didn't feel about him this way, did she? After a few more moments, she released from him.

"Whoa, Serena, I get that we're friends and all but… that?"

"I'm sorry. Did you not like it? I'm sorry if you didn't." Serena replied. Ash then took a few seconds to think. At first he wasn't sure, but then…

"Actually, it wasn't so bad. I kind of liked it." Ash responded. This brought happiness to Serena. He didn't feel weird by it, he actually liked it. That was all she wanted to hear.

"But why did you do it?" Ash asked.

"Well, you did such a nice thing for me I thought I would repay the favor." Serena replied.

"If you put it that way then…" Ash stated and giggled a little. This caused her to giggle as well.

"And plus, I thought I would do this as well." She then took something out from her vest and showed it to him. Ash was a tad bit surprised at it. It was a rose. One of the ones he gave her.

"Serena, where did you get that?" Ash asked.

"It's one of the roses you gave me." She responded. "I thought after what you did for me, that you deserved one for yourself. It's the least I could do." Ash took the rose from her and smiled. She didn't have to do this, but now, she was the one that went out of her way to make him happy. He then pulled her in for a tight hug, which she happily returned.

"Maybe today wasn't such a bad day." Serena thought to herself and continued hugging her crush.

 **Author's note:** Well, there you have it. Yep! I am a twenty two year old guy who thinks a lot about amourshipping. So what? I'm a sucker for romance! I hope you enjoyed this Valentine's Day one shot that I came up with when I think about this couple. I will see you in the next one shot or multi chapter story that I release. Or In or Out if you're a fan of that story. Until then…

 **TDBigJ out!**


End file.
